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Tight finish promised as Bae closes in on home hat-trick
 Korea’s Bae Sang-moon battled to an even-par 70 under rainy conditions to share the third round lead at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open on Saturday.
Bae’s three-day total of five-under-par 211 placed him tied for the lead together with compatriots Kim Dae-hyun and Ted Oh.
The final round at the Nam Seoul Country Club promises to be an exciting affair with only three shots separating all the contenders in the top-10.
Singapore’s Lam Chih Bing will head into the final round trailing by a single shot behind the joint leaders after posting a 72 for a 212 to take a share of fourth place with Korea’s Kang Kyung-nam.
Bae has always enjoyed playing in front of the home crowd, chalking up two career wins on the Asian Tour at the SK Telecom Open in 2007 and the Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open in 2008.
With the approximately US$470,000 Asian Tour event taking place on home soil again, Bae is now one step closer to achieving a hat-trick of home victories.
“It’s always good to play at home as I enjoy the feeling of having the home crowd cheer me on. Hopefully, I’ll do well again and not disappoint everyone,” said Bae.
“It was cold and wet out there which made play very challenging today. There’s still the final stretch tomorrow but it would mean a lot to me if I can go on to win the title,” added the Korean.
Oh had a disastrous opening front-nine when his card was mixed with five bogeys and a lone birdie.
The California-based Korean opened with three successive bogeys before saving a shot with a birdie on the fourth.
However, that only halted his slide momentary as he went on to drop two more shots on the fifth and sixth before making the turn in eight-over.
Oh’s hopes of securing his maiden breakthrough on the Asian Tour came back alive with birdies on the 11th, 14th and 15th to complete a remarkable recovery.
“I had a really rough start but I never gave up, I just hung in there and I figured that if I can make birdies under these conditions, I’ll be able to jump right back up,” said Oh.
“Usually before when I started like that, I would just give up but now I really try to stay patient and I think that was the key,” added Oh.
Meanwhile, Lam battled through the wet conditions to remain firmly on course for his second Asian Tour win on a rain-soaked day.
The Singaporean pared his opening front-nine. He dropped a shot straight after the turn on the 10th but made amends with a birdie on the 13th before returning home safely in 72.
“It was just wet and pouring from the first hole to the last. It’s just not comfortable playing in the rain but after playing on Tour for so long, I’ve got used to this kind of weather,” said Lam.
“I’m just hoping to continue my solid play and make some more putts tomorrow,” added the Singaporean.
The GS Caltex Maekyung Open, sanctioned with the Korean Golf Association is the ninth leg of this season’s Asian Tour and is also the second Asian Tour event in Korea.
Leading third round scores (click here for full leaderboard):
211 - Kim Dae-hyun (KOR) 73-69-69, Bae Sang-moon (KOR) 71-70-70,Ted Oh (KOR) 68-68-75
212 - Kang Kyung-nam (KOR) 71-72-69, Lam Chih Bing (SIN) 70-70-72
213 - Lee Seung-ho (KOR) 72-69-72,Byun Jin-jae [A] (KOR) 69-70-74, Park Hyo-won (KOR) 68-69-76,Kim Hyung-sung (KOR) 70-68-75
214 - Kim Dae-sub (KOR) 71-73-70,Kim Kyung-tae (KOR) 72-70-72,Kim Jong-duk (KOR) 67-74-73,S.K. Ho (KOR) 67-72-75
215 - Mitchell Brown (AUS) 71-72-72,George Coetzee (RSA) 69-73-73,Son Hyun-ho (KOR) 72-69-74,Son Joon-eob (KOR) 72-68-75,Scott Barr (AUS) 72-68-75
216 - Lee Kyoung-hoon [A] (KOR) 74-70-72,Tetsuji Hiratsuka (JPN) 74-70-72, Thaworn Wiratchant (THA) 71-72-73,Kang Min-woong (KOR) 74-68-74,Jeong Youn-jin [A] (KOR) 69-71-76
Selected scores
218 - Noh Seung-yul (KOR) 74-72-72, Kang Wook-soon (KOR) 72-71-75
May 16, 2009
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